New Franklin Register

The town of Franklin is blessed in many ways but over the past three years, it has been discovered that we are home to a truly remarkable winter resident – the Golden Eagle. And not just passing through. The eagles actually spend a few months here. This research has been documented by members of the Delaware Otsego Audubon Society, whose sanctuary on Franklin Mountain hosts Hawkwatch, one of the most important sites for observing and tracking migrating birds, most notably raptors, along the east coast of North America.

Golden Eagle being released. Photo by Gerianne Carillo

Located on the north-facing slope of Franklin Mountain, Hawkwatch provides an enormous view of the Susquehanna River Valley. Birdwatchers can watch the approach of the migrating birds flying down from the north from miles and miles away. On any day during fall migrating season, there will be a group of dedicated volunteeers scanning the sky with binoculars and trading bird stories. A bird count is kept here throughout the fall migration. I have frequently gone up there with my grandson after school and occasionally there have been so many birds that I’ve been unable to keep up with the count. Hawkwatch is also a location for many activities year round, such as birding walks and lectures, a day camp for children in the summer and a raptor banding station.

Over the past few years, documenting the previously unknown presence of winter resident Golden Eagles has become the most exciting activity of the group. The Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society has been organizing baited sites using wildlife cameras – motion activated, weather proof cameras – starting with six sites in 2011 and increasing to ten sites this past winter, 2014. The sites, conducted under License to Collect and Possess #1386, are set up after the close of deer hunting season and most continue operating into March. Eight of the 2014 baited sites were in Otsego County and two were in Delaware, located on high ridges, preferably wooded, with small openings in the forest cover. Posted private land is preferred so that hunters or trappers will not disturb birds attracted to the camera traps. Road-killed deer carcasses are used as bait. All carcasses are checked for the presence of bullet wounds before being placed. Those with bullet wounds are rejected completely or in part because the use of lead bullets has proven lethal to scavenging birds such as eagles.

In 2014, seventeen winter resident Golden Eagles were photographed at eight sites and three Golden Eagles were captured and telemetered. Radio telemetry is now universally used to chart bird movements, in small local breeding territories as well as the huge path patterns of international migratory species. Besides species conservation uses, radio telemetry has important applications in the investigation of infectious diseases of migratory species. The capture, handling and marking of wild birds are activities strictly regulated in most countries. The radio instruments used are small and very lightweight and amazingly accurate over large areas and extended time periods. The birds are captured briefly with rocket nets and the telemeters are quickly attached to the center of their backs between the wings where they will not impede movement. Undisturbed, they can continue sending data for months, even years.

Studies of bird movements are vitally important for learning the interactions between their migration paths and the development of renewable energy, especially wind power. The mid-Atlantic region is becoming attractive for wind power development but it is also has the primary responsibility for the conservation of the eastern population of North America’s Golden Eagles. This population is small, geographically separate, and potentially genetically distinct from western populations. Breeding in northeastern Canada and wintering in the southern Appalachians, the entire Golden Eagle population passes through our region twice each year. Movement of these birds does not vary – migrating Golden Eagles concentrate in a narrow thirty to fifty mile wide corridor. The survival of these rare birds depends on responsible management of the habitat they use and it is essential to research and identify ways to mitigate prospective impacts on this and similar raptor species. Visit Hawkwatch this fall and perhaps you will see one.

The Delaware Otsego Audubon Society Sanctuary is located at 52 Grange Hall Rd which runs from the Town of Franklin into the Town of Oneonta.

For detailed directions to the Hawkwatch as well as to learn about their projects and events, see their website doas.us

Members of the Delaware County Electric Cooperative (DCEC) interested in local green energy were in for a bit of a surprise when the cooperative announced in its Jan/Feb 2014 newsletter (PDF) that it was abandoning its long standing net-metering based agreement with its own members who had installed grid-tied member-owned distributed generation, such as rooftop or ground mounted solar systems or small residential wind turbines.

Delaware County Electric Cooperative (DCEC) website

DCEC, which has about 5,200 members, is one of four small electric cooperatives in New York, founded in the early 1940s as part of the Rural Electrification Administration which brought electricity to unserved rural areas. The vast majority of New Yorkers are customers of investor-owned utilities, such as NYSEG and ConEd. Customers of investor-owned utilities in New York State who install distributed generation systems receive full credit at the retail rate for each kilowatt hour their renewable energy systems produce. This arrangement, called net-metering, has been in effect since 1998. In stark contrast, DCEC’s new member-owned distributed generation policy will credit members at the coop’s wholesale cost of energy, which is under 3 cents per kwh. As the energy flows back and forth across the meter, to and from the grid, the member loses much of the value of the energy produced by the system they have invested in as the energy is bought and sold throughout the day. The effect of this is so dramatic that several members’ yearly electric bill will more than triple under the new policy.

In fact, the new policy will virtually ensure that DCEC members will be unable to install economically viable solar and wind systems in the future.

DCEC CEO/General Manager Mark Schneider participated in a panel discussion closing out this year’s Delaware County Sustainable Energy Symposium at Delhi College in March. Some DCEC members, having spent the day at the symposium learning of many exciting advances in local renewable energy, wanted to know the rationale behind DCEC’s policy. They described the negative impact the policy change would have on members’ ability to add economically viable renewable energy generation to their homes. Those members were not satisfied with what they heard from their CEO/General Manager.

Since then, several members have been trying to get the CEO and the board of directors to reconsider the policy. They have attended board meetings, generally held on the fourth Tuesday of every month, and have spoken for their allotted five minutes about their concerns, trying to understand the cooperative’s position. At this point, the board seems fully committed to this policy, even though they have been made aware of its potentially negative effect on its own members and on the growth of local green energy in Delaware County.

Each year, the cooperative holds an annual meeting to elect directors to the board and vote on other issues. This year, three of the seven board seats are up for election. Perhaps changing the makeup of the board of directors is one way to coax the cooperative toward policies which promote clean energy, local economic development and enhanced resiliency on the cooperative’s electric grid.

This year the cooperative holds its annual meeting on Friday, September 19 at the Delaware Academy in Delhi. All members concerned about guiding the cooperative towards policies which support local green energy and economic development in Delaware County should seriously consider voting to install three new directors this year.

The Cooperative Energy Club website has more information and a link to the absentee ballot request form

Members can also exercise their vote through the absentee ballot procedure. The first step is to obtain an absentee ballot by filling out a request form and sending it to the cooperative by August 20. You can find further details and a link to download the request form atcooperativeenergy.club/2014/06/dcec-election/

Tom Martone lives in Bovina, and is a member of the Delaware County Electric Cooperative. He says about 150 co-op members live in the Town of Franklin.

After repeated requests by the Franklin Town Board, Leatherstocking came to the May meeting to brief them on a possible natural gas distribution line to run from the proposed Constitution Pipeline through Franklin to industry in Fraser, Town of Delhi. (Both Morningstar Foods LLC and Clark Inc. could be large consumers of gas.) Probably this pipe would be low pressure ten-inch high density polyethylene, but medium pressure four-inch steel is an option. Either would be buried three to five feet deep.

Leatherstocking Gas Company LLC is a joint venture between Corning Natural Gas Corporation and Mirabito Holdings. It has started constructing distribution systems in the townships of Bridgewater and Montrose, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania.

Possible natural gas distribution line to run from the proposed Constitution Pipeline through Franklin to industry in Fraser, Town of Delhi (click to enlarge)

Mike German, president of Leatherstocking, showed two speculative routes. One would run 20.4 miles down County Highway 28 and State Highway 10 through North Franklin, Meridale, Meredith, and Delhi. The other would run 19.6 miles down Chamberlin Hill Road, State Highway 357, County Highway 14, and County Highway 16 through Leonta, Treadwell, and West Delhi. The latter is considerably different from the one shown last year to the councilmen of the towns of Delhi and Meredith, and to the trustees of the village of Delhi. That would have run down Otego Road to State Highway 357. Unlike the old, this new version does not go through the village of Franklin, and therefore to supply gas to the village a spur would have to be built from Leonta, a distance of 2.5 miles.

Leatherstocking does not have the power of eminent domain and would have to negotiate for all easements. It could gain that power by becoming a utility.

At the tap into the Constitution Pipeline (i.e. the station gate), there would be built a twelve foot by twelve foot utility building containing equipment to meter, reduce pressure, and odorize the gas. This distribution system would not require a compressor.

This distribution line is contingent on the construction of the Constitution Pipeline. Even if that is completed by March 2016, construction of this line would not begin until 2017 or 2018. Prior to the Franklin/Delhi line, Leatherstocking is planning to build distribution lines from Millennium Pipeline to Windsor and then from Constitution Pipeline to Sidney. Other possible service areas are Bainbridge and Unadilla.

Over the past seven years, The New Franklin Register has offered articles that attempted to help our readers to understand the relationship between energy supplies and the economy. In our issue in Spring of this year (NFR #22, Spring 2014), I laid out a brief history of energy use and tried to describe how fossil fuel energy became essential to our modern way of life. In this article, I’d like to bring the story up to date, with our present predicament.

We all know that we use a lot of energy, most of it derived from fossil fuels. Until now, it has been so abundant and easily available that we take it entirely for granted. We walk into a room and switch on the lights. That’s using electricity, much of which is generated by burning coal or methane gas. All our transportation of goods and people, all mining of resources, manufacturing of machinery and consumer products depend on diesel and other liquid fuels. Our workplaces are powered by fossil fuels; our vacations and amusements are powered by fossil fuels.

You see where I’m going with this: there is virtually no getting away from fossil fuel energy in our very energy-intensive lives – unless perhaps we go fishing. And even then, the fishing line is nylon (oil), the hooks are steel (coal), and the fishing tackle came to market in a truck (oil again). The fact that we cannot turn around without seeing or touching something that arrived courtesy of fossil fuels might explain most people’s reluctance to contemplate a life with ever less oil and other fossil fuels. It seems natural to think that things will continue as they have all our lives.

I have often written that the depletion of fossil fuels is not a matter of belief or technology but a question of geology. If you keep using something that comes out of the earth, eventually you use it up.
There’s another problem, however, and that has to do not with shortages of supply but with debt. In our system, money is not created by the government but rather loaned into existence by banks. The bank does not have the money it lends you; it creates that money out of thin air when you sign an agreement to pay it back – with interest. You, the borrower, create the real value of that money by going out and earning it at some productive task. The bank just collects the money you give them each month and pays bonuses to their executives.

In order for this system of money creation to function, there must be continual growth in the economy to produce the new wealth that the new money represents. But without growing our supply of energy, there can be no growth. Faced with the need to keep this precarious system functioning, everyone – producers, consumers, bankers, workers, governments – has resorted to ever increasing levels of debt, rolling over old loans into new loans. Lending standards are relaxed in order to allow the borrowing to continue as the real economy slows. Eventually the debt burden becomes so great that interest payments take up all the productive capacity of a society. When that happens, the bubble bursts, for no one will either lend or borrow. Government debt, corporate debt, student debt, credit card debt, underwater mortgages: we’re close to that point already.

How does the debt crisis affect energy availability? Leaving aside the urgent questions of climate change and environmental damage caused by fossil fuel extraction and use, let’s just pretend for a moment that using fossil fuels is not irreparably damaging our life support systems, so we can just drill, baby, drill. With the cheap and easily extracted fuels already gone, what remains is deep under the sea or trapped in deep rock formations that must be shattered at great cost by fracking to release the fuels. Deep-sea drilling rigs cost between one and three billion dollars each to build and as much as $500,000 a day to operate. That’s real money and must be financed.

At the same time, we’re trying to build so-called renewable energy systems. That means new infrastructure, new machines like wind turbines and solar panels. Factories must be built, ores mined and refined, equipment installed. All of that requires large amounts of energy and, equally, large amounts of financing.

Whether we’re talking about drill, baby, drill or so-called renewable energy, the debt burden is just too great. We can see the evidence in the world around us. The oil majors are all cutting back on exploration and new projects because the returns are not good enough to justify the investment. At the same time, the financial system is seizing up as it chokes on more debt than can be serviced. That leaves energy descent and contraction as our certain future, whether we choose to embrace it and try to learn to live simpler, less energy-intensive lives––or simply wait for collapse to arrive like a tsunami.

The federal government requires that Delaware County replace its emergency communication system, having sold the frequencies on which it operates. The existing system was built in the 1970s and replacement parts are no longer manufactured. Also, it reaches mobile units in only 65% of the county, whereas the new system should reach 95%. Costs are estimated at $5 to 10 million, of which $5.3 million has been covered by grants to date.

Map showing Johnson Mountain and Ed Klug Road

The required new communication towers are to be located near the existing ones, of which there are twelve. Phase I includes replacement of the four towers in primary locations such as on top of Franklin’s Johnson Mountain, just south of Heathen Hill. Other primary locations are Houck Mtn., Walton; Mt. Pisgah, Andes; and Mt. Utsayantha, Stamford. The existing facility must be kept operational until the new system is completed, and the new tower also requires an equipment shack.

On Johnson Mtn., the county had planned to put the new tower and its shack next to the old one, but the land owner, Mr. Leva, complained that it would take up more of his limited road frontage. He suggested a property across Ed Klug Road, owned by his mother. According to Supervisor Taggart, an agreement was reached with the Leva family to locate the new tower on a half acre of Maria Leva’s parcel, across from the existing tower. But since late last year, he said, the owners have been involved in a family squabble, and have not responded to numerous attempts to finalize the easement.

It is unclear why only a Leva family property is suitable. While they own four parcels that are above 2,000’ along Ed Kung Road, Scott Taggart owns others nearby. The Leva family are nonresidents, whereas Mr. Taggart lives in Franklin.

With construction now on hold, the Delaware County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously at their April 9th meeting to begin eminent domain proceedings (Resolution 78). But apparently there were problems with the wording. So, in their meeting of May 25th, they rescinded that resolution and voted for the similar Resolution 114.

Seven of the twelve towers are planned for completion this year, and completion of the system is scheduled for mid-2016.

What’s going on up the hill? Rest assured it’s not condos or a wild game park (those were actual rumors floating about). If you look up the hill from the village of Franklin, you’ll see a new barn with a dark green roof. If you drive up Franklin Heights Road, you’ll see plenty of activity for sure. Last year, Bryan and I were blessed with the opportunity to purchase a portion of the property on Franklin Heights that had been owned by Walter Rich, and his family for years. The Rich Family was beloved by the Franklin community and we feel a deep commitment to honor his legacy.

The new Handsome Brook Farm barn on Franklin Heights. Photo by Brian Brock

We purchased the property last fall, with its incredible view of the hills and village. Our goal is to keep it agricultural. We have been growing certified organic blueberries for some time on East Handsome Brook Road, and decided to add new fields on Franklin Heights. Last year and first of all, we put in deer fencing – to keep the deer away from the plants. And, on May 2nd, with the help of 130 friends and neighbors – we planted 13,000 new blueberry plants. Thanks to everyone!

In addition, we transplanted 600 more mature plants (old enough to have blueberries this year!) from our Handsome Brook field to Franklin Heights. Stay tuned for pick-your-own hours later this summer! Call us at (607) 829-2587 in early August and we’ll let you know.

The big building you see as you drive past is a barn. The bottom floor has three sections: a walk-in cooler for our blueberries and a center section for the packing area. The third section is a kitchen that we hope to have licensed by NYS Ag & Markets, so we can open it up to people in the community to use. We also hope to have this kitchen area become a place where folks can stop by for a cup of coffee and a cookie, a blueberry crumble or piece of carrot cake.

We feel blessed to have this special place in our care, and truly want it to be a place that is shared with the community. Our plans include developing a food hub, where produce can be bought and sold, and a place for meetings and special get-togethers.

If you see our car there, please feel free to stop by and say hi, sit outside, and enjoy the view!

Omaha native Carrie Fishner, Franklin’s first new librarian in thirty years, took the long way here. After graduating from Northwest Missouri State, she got a job as a residence director at SUNY Cobleskill in 2002. She moved to Delhi in 2009, when her husband took a job as assistant director of housing at SUNY Delhi. While there, she earned her Masters in Higher Education Administration at Albany. She got her Masters in Library Science at Buffalo in 2012. After starting at the Franklin Free Library this March, Ms. Fishner seems to have settled in comfortably, doing traditional library duties, but also adding some modern touches. “I think books are something that will never disappear, but I do see ways we can increase the use of technology. We have a Kindle on order that will be available for check out, we’re on Facebook now, we have a new website that has a lot of new, up-to-date information on it. I’d like to do some classes on the library’s Overdrive system for downloading eBooks. Our magazine collection is barcoded now, so we can analyze it and maybe add some new subscriptions. “We had a very successful Pajama Story Time last week, so we’ll probably start doing that once a month. I’d like to look at doing movies on Saturdays, cartoons or family movies, something that parents can sit through, too. We’re constantly updating the Children’s Books section and I’ve added a few new Young Adult books and graphic novels to see if there’s any interest in that. For adults, the 100th Anniversary of the beginning of World War 1 is coming up and I’m hoping to set up a four week program combining books and lectures sometime in October.” Carrie wishes to thank Linda Burkhart for all her help during the transition, especially for her work on this year’s Summer Program. Please note the changes in the library hours.

Last February, I was approached by my neighbor and Village Trustee, Paul DeAndrea to see if I would consider running for Mayor of Franklin. John Campbell had served six years with distinction in this position and after taking on many pressing village issues, including a major public works project, was not interested in serving another term. I had been on a committee three years ago to review the state of the village and its viability at a time when other small municipalities were being encouraged to merge with their respective towns, and I had become aware of and impressed with the efficiency with which the village conducted its business.

Tom Briggs, Mayor of Franklin, NY

Because of the success of the water system upgrade and the sense that Franklin wouldn’t need to undertake another project of this magnitude in the near future, I felt fairly comfortable that I could have the freedom to enjoy my retirement and still fulfill my self-imposed civic responsibility by throwing my hat in the ring. Because there was no opposition to my candidacy, I was elected unanimously by the thirty-plus civic minded village residents who took the time to vote, whether there was a contested election or not.

For those who might suppose that I’m just another person from parts elsewhere, inserting myself into the affairs of the village without paying my dues, I’d like to share some back ground. My forebears came to Delaware County as part of a post-Revolution population surge in the 18th century, settling along the Delaware River between Deposit and Hale Eddy. Most of my relatives were born, raised, and buried in this general area, enjoying the bounty of its beauty and enduring the hard times that often accompany living in a remote area. I grew up in Deposit, left to go to college, returned in the mid 1970s and located an administrative job at the Delaware County Office for the Aging.

In 1983, I became the Director of the agency and in the following year moved to Treadwell in the Town of Franklin, where my wife Donna and I raised our family. In 2006, we relocated to the village of Franklin. During my thirty-four years of public service, I served on the boards of several organizations at the local, state and national levels. I was fortunate enough to rub elbows with people whose vision and drive helped me to understand the qualities that define true greatness. I was also fortunate to befriend many people who acted in a supportive role to whatever cause was being pursued. These were the unsung “worker bees” whose collective efforts were essential to growing ideas into accomplishments.

My vision for Franklin might be considered by some as modest, by others as almost unattainable. It would bring me great joy to see the people of this community work together in harmony to create a living environment that matches the social dynamic that prevailed in the not so distant past. Youth programs, fraternal organizations, the fire department and emergency squad, village improvement, library, the theater, the museum and other organizations are all in need of volunteers. People with ideas, whether they be local or “city folk,” should be welcomed and encouraged to share their perceptions. We should all be sensitive to the marketing concept that private enterprise attaches to its products and services: to engender in the customer a sense of meaning and belonging.

To our advantage, Franklin is one of the real jewels of the Leatherstocking area. We have a wonderful library, a good school system, a top notch theater, a well-trained and organized fire department and emergency squad, a museum complex that has tremendous potential, a well-kept historic Main Street, a thriving farmers’ market, an active faith community and a nucleus of bright, creative, hardworking and positive people.

Of concern is our capacity for sustainability. Without an influx of young people with means and families, our Main Street will fall into disrepair, our school system will be in jeopardy, our volunteer organizations will experience significant under-enrollment, and this quaint little village will face the same hard times that many of the other upstate communities are already experiencing.

In the months to come, I hope to meet with representatives from the various community organizations to discuss their perceptions and to explore strategies that might be employed to have a positive impact on this village. I will also keep an open ear to the ideas of individual residents about how to recapture the sense of promise that fueled that quality of life in this community in days prior.

I look forward to the next two years, as I become better acquainted with village residents. I have great confidence that we have the ability to make good things happen.

The market for natural gas in the northeastern U.S. is out of balance. There is too much supply in northern Pennsylvania and too much demand in New England. As a result, those producers are being paid much less than their consumers are paying. One solution is to add pipeline capacity, in order to ship the gas east.

Map of a distribution system for natural gas showing regional pipelines, including the proposed Northeast Energy Direct or “Proposed Pennsylvania to Wright, NY Route” (broad dashed gray line) and “Constitution” (narrow solid black line). Where the two would be co-located, only gray line of NED is shown. Compressor stations are shown along the pipelines, including existing (light gray squares, labeled “STA. #”) and proposed (medium gray squares labeled “New C/S” or “Head Station”).

In the fall of 2011, the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, LLC proposed a new thirty-six inch gas pipeline to run between two of its existing pipelines, from Brooklyn PA through Franklin to Wright NY (see NFR, Spring 2012) — only to abandon this Northeast Exchange project a few months later. TGP never would say why they abandoned the Brooklyn/Wright line, but it was being bought by Kinder-Morgan Energy Partners, LC. At any rate, Williams Partners, LP took over that route by proposing the Constitution project (see NFR, Summer 20122).

In the fall of 2012, TGP proposed the Northeast Expansion project, a gas pipeline from Wright NY to Dracut MA. In the recent solicitation to suppliers (February 13 to March 28), TGP proposed a capacity of this Wright/Dracut line of 0.6 to 2.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). Because they are going forward, presumably TGP signed up enough supply, but we don’t know how many did.

For more than a year, it seemed as if TGP was content to plan for the Constitution Pipeline to supply gas to the input of this Northeast Expansion Pipeline in Wright. But the Constitution would supply only 0.6 to 0.8 Bcf/d. As a result of interest from Pennsylvania’s gas producers, TGP has revived plans for the Northeast Exchange. Originally it was to have a 0.6 Bcf/d capacity, but with no booster compressor station.

Now, the recent plan adds just such a station somewhere in Delaware County, which would increase capacity. If built, such a booster compressor would be located around the middle of the route. Currently it is planned for the North Franklin or west Davenport area, east of State Highway 28. Additional compression engines would have to be installed at existing compressor stations at the input in Clifford PA and the output in Wright NY.

Compressor stations make poor neighbors, polluting the air with noise and chemicals. The compressors spin 24/7/365, and the occasional venting sounds like a jet taking off. The small leaks and huge volumes of vented shale gas have been linked to a variety of signs of chemical poisoning such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, nose bleeds and rashes.

Together, the Northeast Exchange (southwestern half) and the Northeast Expansion (northeastern half) is being called the Northeast Energy Direct or NED. The southwestern half of this project, including the section through Franklin, has not even been pre-filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Of course the same was said about the Constitution Pipeline back in 2012.

In New York, the new TGP route is almost identical to the original one, but both show some differences from the Williams route of the Constitution. All three take a very similar path through Delaware County.

If both pipelines are built, their ill effects double. At best, a second strip of easements would double the width of the easement corridor and at worst, create two separate parallel strips. Construction in 2015 and then in 2017 would take twice as long. Wear and tear on roads would double, as would traffic congestion. Tax assessments of infrastructure and easement payments would likewise double, but this would be offset by decrease in assessments of affected parcels. Affected land owners would be twice cheated of fair compensation. And while there has been some talk of local distribution of gas, two pipelines would not make such a supply twice as cheap.

Currently the timeline is: taking bids from potential suppliers of gas – February/March 2014; contracts signed by suppliers – August 2014; and submitting an outline of the project to FERC (pre-filing) – September 2014, with the aim of beginning clearing brush and trees from the route by January 2017 and starting to ship gas to consumers after November 2018. Already along the pipeline route, affected landowners are receiving letters from the TGP subcontractor, The NLS Group, seeking permission for surveys.

At least TGP has the honesty to admit that a booster compressor is necessary, unlike Williams. Also they are clear that possible users of this gas could be “developers of liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) projects in New England and Atlantic Canada,” unlike Williams.

Once a utility corridor is established, it is easier to co-locate more utilities along it. But here we have an adjacent easement being proposed before the first is even certified by FERC.